With Barack Obama having the Democratic presidential nomination all but wrapped up, Hillary Clinton backers are hoping that a devastating revelation about Obama could derail his candidacy — and they’re desperately seeking to find it.

That’s the inside story from veteran newsman Carl Bernstein, who writes in his CNN column:

“The Clinton campaign’s search for damaging information and its hope that such information exists continues, according to knowledgeable sources.”

Top Clinton adviser Harold Ickes warned on the eve of the North Carolina and Indian primaries that Obama could be vulnerable to an “October surprise” by the John McCain campaign, notes Bernstein, whose latest book is “A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

He adds: “Several Clinton associates say there is still a ray of hope among some in her campaign that a ‘catastrophic’ revelation about Obama might make it possible for her to win the presidential nomination.”

But there is also a strong chance that Clinton will try to maneuver her way into the vice presidential slot on the Obama ticket, according to Bernstein, even though Obama “won’t want to take her on the ticket.”

“Glenn Close should have stayed in that tub, and Sen. Clinton has had a remarkable career and needs to move to the next step, which is helping elect the Democratic nominee,” Cohen said during a local TV interview. He later apologized for his comments.

Barack Obama wouldn’t debate Hillary Clinton in a flat bed truck. But there she was today, sitting shotgun in one, driving home the argument that her rival doesn’t share her concern about the average Joe Six-pack when it comes to fuel prices.

When Clinton’s traveling press corps was told late last night that the candidate would be “commuting” to work with a “typical” Hoosier, the questions came rapid-fire. When was the last time Clinton pumped her own gas? When’s the last time she even drove? And, most to the point, what was a stunt like this going to prove?

Senator Hillary Clinton has requested nearly $2.3 billion in federal earmarks for the next fiscal year. That’s almost three times the largest amount received by a single senator during this current fiscal year. Earmarks are funding requests for those so-called pet projects that lawmakers usually award to their own constituency.

Hillary Clinton is calling for a holiday on the 18.4-cent gasoline tax, and she says she’d make up the funding from that (which funds transportation infrastructure) by taxing oil company’s “windfall” profits.